Changes in saccadic eye movements produced by cerebellar cortical lesions

Jurgen C. Aschoff, Bernard Cohen

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107 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spontaneous horizontal saccades of monkeys were changed by unilateral lesions of the cerebellar cortex. When parts of the vermis and adjacent paravermis including Larsell's lobules VI and VII were ablated, the eyes moved most often from the midposition into the contralateral hemifield of movement, and there were few saccades into the ipsilateral hemifield. In four out of six animals with one-sided mermian and paravermian lesions, saccades to the contralateral side were larger than to the ispilateral side after operation. In these monkeys the eyes tended to move from the midline to the opposite side in single saccades and return toward or past the midline in a series of smaller movements. Amplitude/velocity relationships of saccadic movements, slow pursuit movements, and optokinetic nystagmus were not much affected by the cerebellar cortical lesions. These data support the hypothesis that neural organizations in the cortex of the vermis and paravermis participate in producing gaze shifts or positions of fixation to the ipsilateral side.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)123-133
Number of pages11
JournalExperimental Neurology
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1971
Externally publishedYes

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